Days that End in Y
by loraney
Summary: One Chapter written as an homage to Zrina and 'Sound of Dreams.' Set after the boys arrive back in Konoha. Naruto arranges some private time with his beloved bastard. Although I guess if 8 clones are there, it's not too private.


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story. Naruto and Sasuke are property of the Naruto franchise. Hiroki is the property of Zrina.

Additional disclaimer: In my profile I mentioned that I wrote a little piece based on Zrina's Sound of Dreams. I wrote this thing after she had finished that story, but before Dreams of Fire. I took a look at it and decided it wasn't so bad, needing a few tweaks to be readable.

This is set approximately 4 months after the boys arrive in Konoha.

As I look through this and my profile, it does seem that I have a woodie for all things SoD. I actually do have a stash of writings and writers that I adore and respect and will try to get a listing of them up in my profile.

Anyway, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, actually stealing someone's character would amount to worship. Here's hoping Zrina comes back, although if she's smart she's already embarking on a commercial venture.

* * *

Naruto dropped his gear by the door as he and Sasuke entered the bedroom of the apartment they'd been calling home for the last four months. He wandered over to the window and scanned the neighboring rooftops to locate their nightly ANBU babysitters.

It still felt strange to be in Konoha after living the last year together in Sound. So much had happened during their time away. After Naruto had found Sasuke, they had killed Kabuto, Kisame and later, Orochimaru. They fought beast and man. They fought each other. They came to terms with each other. All the while, they traveled and trained relentlessly for the day Sasuke would face Itachi.

Frankly, that life, training and surviving a day at a time, had been clear and straightforward. It was physical, raw. Options were few and there was rarely a need to plan beyond a day or two. They answered to no one but themselves and each other. Now that they were back, personal, professional and legal hurdles complicated their lives. The simplicity and freedom had been usurped by so much political bullshit.

Despite all that, Naruto felt his private relationship with Sasuke was developing nicely. While he was a cold, indifferent asshole to everyone else, Sasuke really seemed to need Naruto and Hiroki, a five year old they rescued from a lab in Sound and then informally adopted. Further, the stoic youth had come a long way in his ability to demonstrate that need.

Unfortunately, between mucking out stagnant ponds, the constant presence of ANBU escorts and Hiroki's needs, the two seventeen year olds had almost no privacy. While the two were together nearly every waking moment performing D-ranked missions, Naruto missed the intimacy he'd shared with Sasuke. Quickies in the shower were better than nothing, but he was spoiled by the freedom he'd had in Sound to nurture and coax and worship his beloved bastard.

Tonight, though, with the help of Iruka, who had taken Hiroki for the night, and a low level genjutsu to confound the ANBU, he hoped to remedy that. With the application of a few hand signs, their comrades would enjoy the mind-numbing entertainment of watching Naruto and Sasuke saw logs while he molested the other teen to within an inch of his life.

"Tired?" Naruto asked as Sasuke tossed his pack into the corner.

Sasuke shook his head. "No." He'd been instantly aware of the tiny pulse of chakra creating an illusionary barrier.

Naruto grinned and swooped into Sasuke's personal space. Encouraged when no death glare appeared below the raised black brow, the blond lifted his fingers to the smooth skin of his lover's pale neck. Quickly discontent with the small patch of skin presented through the open vee of the gi top, he parted the heavy cotton, exposing a more satisfying playground of hard muscles and fine-grained skin.

"What are you up to, dobe?"

"Whatever it takes to get you in the sack."

"Hn." He tilted his head back and shivered as warm lips attached themselves to his neck. "You think our friends out there will be fooled?"

"Should be okay. It's Sai and Neji." Naruto winced as he realized his mistake.

"Sai and Neji?" To Naruto, the Uchiha's question had an uncanny resemblance to a shriek. But since Sasuke had already informed him, in a lecture that, for some reason, started with an a ninja sandal planted in the middle of his forehead, that Uchihas were genetically incapable of shrieking, the blond was obviously wrong.

"Those two fuckers are probably already in here henged as towel racks hoping to catch you in the shower." No, Sasuke wasn't shrieking. Or flapping his arms in agitation. As it was Naruto had to wrap his arms around the older boy's waist to keep him from bolting out the fourth floor window.

"Sasuke," Naruto didn't get to finish.

"Don't you "Sasuke" me. Not after the shit they pulled last week." Naruto sighed and recalled the incident in question. He had been lying on his back in bed, almost asleep. Sasuke was still brushing his teeth. Then, what he thought was Hiroki's new cat landed lightly on his torso, circled a half dozen times and finally curled up on his crotch, purring loudly.

He was certain he'd lost ten years off his life and a half a pound of flesh when Sasuke pounced on him, grabbed the feline and flung the animal - and several strips of skin terrifyingly near his family jewels - against the wall. He remembered an instant of shock at the unbelievable violence Sasuke had demonstrated toward a harmless, domestic animal, until the creature vanished with a pop upon impact.

It turned out to be one of Sai's ink creatures. All in all, not too surprising considering that Sai had a large black hole where normal people stored their instincts about boundaries. The shocker had been that Neji had been sitting right next to Sai on that rooftop, describing their new pet in finer detail while Sai painted.

"Sasuke," he tried again. When his friend inhaled to continue his tirade, Naruto clapped a hand over this mouth. "Do you want them to hear? They think we're sleeping. Keep it up, you prick, and they'll be parking themselves in our living room."

"Fine," he shook off the hand over this mouth and stalked to the window. "But, I don"t have this Sharingan for nothing, you know."

"Sas..." The blond stopped. "Er..." Naruto didn't really think the tomoes in Sasuke's eyes, currently whirling like pinwheels in a hurricane, made his lover look psychotic. Much.

"But Sasuke, Neji's," Naruto began again. When Sasuke raised one arrogant eyebrow, Naruto finished weakly, "byaku...gan."

"Am I or am I not an Uchiha? Stealthy, cunning..." Naruto silently added to the list, "crazier than a sack of weasels."

"...never know what hit them...women's onsen...three fucking ordinances..." Sasuke was muttering again.

"Sasuke!" Naruto hissed. "I swear to Kami if we end up spending the night in baa-chan's office because you lost your temper, again..." He left the genius to follow that to the conclusion of his choice.

"I don't have a temper." Naruto didn't even blink.

Sasuke paused and then raised his palms up in defeat. "Okay, okay." His shoulders slumped. "You're right."

"Of course I am," Naruto agreed, wondering if the earth had just spun off its axis. "You stupid bastard, when are you going to realize I'm completely yours?"

Sasuke pursed his lips and glanced at the pile in the corner of the room. Amongst the swords, kamas and extra field kunai, rested an Uchiha branding iron. Naruto placed a hand protectively over one ass cheek.

His own eyes narrowed as he recalled the trip to the Uchiha compound the day before they moved into the apartment. Sasuke had wanted to look around for anything that might be useful in their new home.

The two had walked from room to room and Naruto had watched his companion run his fingers over various items. Sasuke lingered over his mother's beloved hand painted lotus blossoms. He picked up several of his uncle's antique shogi pieces and rubbed them against his cheek. It made Naruto feel sad.

"You know, our place is going to be pretty bare. You're welcome to..." At a sharp look, Naruto shut up and left his friend to reminisce in peace.

Turned out that the bastard did decide on a couple of mementos. When they arrived at the apartment the next day, Sasuke upended a bag and displayed his collection; several yellowed scrolls, two red and white pot holders, half a dozen black sleeveless shirts and a _god damned_ branding iron with a _god damned_ fan shaped head. Why the hell would such a thing even exist? It wasn't as if Uchihas raised livestock.

Naruto suspected that Sasuke was just fucking with him, but when it came to the bastard and humor, it was better to err on the side of caution.

Naruto looked at the intense scowl on Sasuke's face, and turned away. "You know, you can be a real mood killer sometimes."

Sasuke gasped and reached for his friend. "Naruto! Wait! I'm, uh, sorry." The blond's eyebrow twitched and he wondered if the earth really was hurtling toward the sun.

"Well, okay. No problem." He shrugged, a bit thrown by the apology. "Seriously, though, I think if we're quiet," he shrugged again. Suddenly anxious to get back in familiar territory, he leaned in, smirking. "I know you're usually a noisy bitch in bed, but if you could hold it down this once..." He waggled his eyebrows lewdly.

A grateful glint flickered in the onyx eyes, and just that quick, they were back on mutually comfortable footing.

Sasuke was half way to issuing an appropriately rude response when a hot breath on his neck vaporized coherent thought. Naruto relentlessly employed fingers and lips, willing to pay in blood for each small noise that he earned. Naruto lifted his lips to the brunette's ear.

"Make some clones." After several seconds, Naruto's whispered request made it passed the slush congealing in Sasuke's brain. He leaned back and raised both brows.

"What?"

Attempting to reacquire an elusive earlobe, Naruto repeated his request. "Make some clones."

"Clones?"

"Mm hmm," the younger teen murmured around the lobe of flesh between his teeth. By now the gi jacket and obi were a rumpled lump on the floor and Sasuke was covered in goose bumps.

Sasuke blinked to clear this head and pulled back again. They had been lovers for nearly a year now and Kami knew that Naruto could be alarmingly enthusiastic and frighteningly inventive, but this was new.

In all honesty, though, Sasuke felt no trepidation. The broad shouldered teenager had never given him anything less than ecstasy during their intimate moments and the brunette trusted him utterly.

Quirking his lips in amusement, he decided to play along and brought his hands together. "How many?"

"Uhm," Naruto responded distractedly, his fingertips running firmly from moon-kissed neck around to the warm skin of a hard chest. "Four."

Hesitating only a moment, Sasuke started a series of hand signs; ram, boar, ox...

Naruto placed his hand over the pale fingers, stopping the jutsu. "Shadow clones."

"How long do we need them? You know I can't hold them forever like you can." Growling, he grabbed the blond's hand, which had wandered south. "Especially when you're doing that."

"C'mon, you're awesome and a genius. It'll be fine." The tan teen started manipulating slender digits into the crossed fingers seal. "Anyway, I don't know how long. Kind of depends. Just do it."

A few seconds later, four additional shirtless Sasukes stood in the room. Naruto gazed appreciatively at each, the blue of his eyes darkening more as each new body was acknowledged.

One hand went to the back of his neck and he grinned sheepishly. "Uhm, do you think... I mean, would you care if..." He wiggled his eyebrows and looked meaningfully at Sasuke's forearms.

Sasuke frowned a moment then snorted in amusement. "Kami, you are such a pervert."

A couple of quick movements and the clones poofed out of existence, only to poof back a second later sporting leather and metal armguards.

"Happy?"

"Yeah!" Naruto's grin widened as five identical sets of eyes rolled in exasperation.

"I can't do this forever." Sasuke sighed, poking the blond in the chest. "What do you want them to do?"

"Never you mind, teme. Just ignore them. You only need to worry about me." Naruto repeated the hand motions and the room got even more crowded. There was now one Naruto for every Sasuke.

"Uh, dobe, this is getting a little..." Sasuke started, a tendril of unease slithering up his spine. Flushing, he secretly counted the sum total of...orifices...between the two of them and then looked again at the eight extra occupants of the room. He frowned.

"Tch, bastard!" Naruto placed a hand on either side of the older teen's head and brought their foreheads together, trying to establish eye contact. "I told you, don't worry about them. Forget they're even here."

Sasuke tried to swivel his head from one side to the other, attempting to ascertain the relative positions and movements of all the occupants of the room. His ninja training was too deeply ingrained to allow him to easily tune out the extraneous noises and activity and still relax.

This just forced Naruto to bring out the heavy artillery. He slid his hands into Sasuke's hair and jerked the dark head backward.

The dominating move had the anticipated effect. Sasuke's eyelids slid to half-mast and his lips parted on a gasp. Leaving one hand firmly gripping the hair at the back of the his friend's head, Naruto sent the other on advance maneuvers.

Normally, the blond would opt to play with his most precious person, intently attending to every inch of the pale body, building layer upon layer of sensation until their world ceased to exist. But he could tell his bastard was on edge and decided to drown him in sensation, keeping all thought washed from his head. Putting actions to instincts, Naruto shoved his hand into the front of his lover's gi pants.

Sasuke's eyes rolled back into his head as he finally, _finally _found himself being touched by his blond.

"Yesss," he groaned. An almost identical sound from nearby caused him to turn his head to the left. His eyes widened as he looked upon an almost mirror image not five feet away.

"Bastard, you're going to hurt my feelings if you keep losing focus here," Naruto groused mildly.

"Idiot. There are four other couples copulating, loudly, in th...Wait. What the hell is your clone doing?" He slapped his hand over his eyes, a blush covering his cheeks. "Never mind. You mean to tell me that you aren't a little distracted?"

Naruto snapped his teeth together and looked pointedly at the older teen before dropping to his knees. "It would appear that stronger measures are needed here."

"If they aren't here for our viewing pleasure, then what the hell's the point? Clearly, I didn't get my copy of the program before this show started."

"You know, bastard, for the strong, silent type, you sure talk a lot." Naruto yanked the tie on Sasuke's gi bottoms and jerked the white fabric to the floor. "Now shut it."

Growling, Sasuke grabbed two fistfuls of blond hair. "Actually, I think what we need here is for you to open it." He jerked Naruto's face into his crotch. "Open wide, moron."

Naruto didn't resist. Placing his hands on the backs of strong white thighs, he grinned. "Give the man a cigar." He paused a moment and looked thoughtful. There had to be a lewd joke in there somewhere.

"Stop right there," the dark eyed teen growled. "Shut your mouth and open up." The blond snorted at that unworkable command, but taking pity on his touchy best friend, he let it drop.

Naruto leaned in and nuzzled the exposed flesh until Sasuke was almost purring. Using his lips, he brushed almost non-existent caresses along the rigid length. He occasionally swiped and swirled with his tongue until Sasuke was panting and thrusting his hips in frustration.

"Mmm. Have I ever told you how hot you are?"

Sasuke stilled. "No."

"Really? Tsk. Criminal oversight on my part." The blond rubbed his cheek up one side of the velvety steel of Sasuke's erection.

A bit disappointed, Sasuke sighed and prepared to block out the usual meaningless litany of flowery declarations he'd heard his whole life about damned Uchiha genetics. Eyes, hair, skin. As if he gave a flying fuck about his looks. Itachi was born with the same shit and he was an insane son of a bitch who needed to have his pretty face smashed into the side of a mountain. In spite of the pleasurable shivers running over his body as a result of Naruto's actions, he couldn't help silently thinking, "Blah blah blah"

Naruto's hot breath and smooth cheek had his attention, however. He slid his fingers into blond tufts and closed his eyes.

"So ferocious." His eyes snapped open as Naruto's husky voice washed over him. What the hell? He stared at the blond. Naruto held his gaze.

"So possessive." He nipped at a pale flank.

Tan fingers ghosted from pale ankle to knee and back as lips brushed a spot near an alabaster hipbone. "So damned sexy. A walking wet dream."

"...my dream." Naruto's heartfelt whisper made Sasuke's stomach flip and his breath wedged in his chest.

Sasuke slid to his knees to look into the blue eyes that would never lie to him.

His heart was thudding in his chest. "Possesive? Ferocious? Those aren't..."

"What, bastard? Did you think I was gonna sing an ode to your hair? The wonders of your eyes?" He smirked, "Although your ass does make me wish I was a poet."

Naruto grabbed an ass cheek with each hand and brought their groins together in a well practiced move.

"The fact that you want to stitch "Uchiha' across my chest in gold thread fixes something in me that I didn't even know was broken. That you want me so much..."

"I do. You're mine."

There was something vulnerable about the look on Sasuke's face.

"Sasuke..." Naruto whispered.

Instead of trying to explain with words, Naruto leaned in and claimed a warm mouth in a deep, drugging kiss. He slowly, deliberately dragged his lips back and forth, his tongue sweeping broadly, wetly against Sasuke's.

Wanting to pour everything he had, everything he wanted his lover to know into this joining, needing to tell Sasuke everything with this kiss, the blond wrapped one arm around the older teen and used the other to lever them to the floor. Without breaking contact he molded the dark head with calloused palms and deepened the kiss further. He curled his body around his lithe lover and dove even deeper.

Sasuke absolutely loved when Naruto kissed him and had lost all coherent thought the moment their lips touched. He felt drugged, weightless, yet heavy as lead. His head spun and he couldn't stop the incoherent syllables pouring from his mouth. The panting and moaning coming from elsewhere in the room only added to the feelings crashing over him in waves.

Naruto was relentless in his assault. Sasuke's lips felt swollen and unbearably sensitive. The blond's tongue surged between his parted lips, thrusting inside his mouth delving deeply. He was filled with the heady taste of sunshine. He felt strong hands pull at his ankles and wrap his legs around the broad back. When Naruto pressed into him, mostly unprepared, the rapture of becoming one obliterated all else. He clutched desperately at powerful shoulders and used his legs to try and join them at the cellular level.

He was becoming frantic and used his thigh muscles to try to urge Naruto into a pounding rhythm. But Naruto would have none of it. Hard hands hooked over pale shoulders and his hips rolled slowly, controlling.

"Naruto!" Sasuke was mindless when an eternity, or perhaps only seconds, later he finally shattered.

Yearning for the sight of his lover's enraptured face, Naruto pulled back to kneel between pale thighs. He watched, enthralled, as Sasuke's head flung back, his body arching off the floor. The muscles of his torso strained and rippled, making the blond's mouth water with the need to taste the alabaster skin. But first...

He looked at his nearest clone. Nodding, the duplicate leaned in and bit hard on the tendon between clone-Sasuke's neck and shoulder. With a guttural cry, the recently debauched clone popped out of existence, returning his experiences home. Within seconds, the quivering original arched up even further off the carpeting.

"Ah! Gods!" The dark eyed warrior clenched his fists as a second erection and lightening orgasm, so close on the heels of his first, overtook him. Sweat pooled in the indentations of his abdominal muscles and his body trembled from head to foot. As he settled into heavy panting, Naruto looked to the next set of clones. The second Naruto clone bared his teeth and attacked the same tendon as Sasuke's first clone.

Sasuke moaned and quivered, lost to the world around him as each successive climax swamped his body and brain. Naruto slid his hands up and down the sleek muscles of his lover's thighs, watching, listening, memorizing, greedy for every moan and gasp that left Sasuke's lips.

On it went. By the time the fourth clone returned the sensations of his climax to the original, all Sasuke could do was gasp weakly, his limp body shuddering spasmodically.

After several moments, Naruto frowned, becoming concerned over the twitching of Sasuke's limbs and the rapid panting that had yet to abate. He crawled up the damp, flushed body and pressed his palm to the older teen's cheek. He found tears running down smooth temples, gathering in the hollows of pale ears.

"Sasuke?"

Nothing.

"Shitshitshit."

He scrambled around and pulled Sasuke's upper body into his arms. His fingers speared through the hair at the brunette's temples.

"Sasuke! Please..." he whispered, his rising panic clear in his voice.

Several moments passed during which Naruto's anxiety skyrocketed and he wondered what he should do. He was nearly ready to drop the illusion and call one of the ANBU when finally...

"H...holy fuck."

"Thank you gods!" Naruto pressed his cheek to Sasuke's with a shaky exhalation. "Are you okay?"

"Holy fuck."

"Yeah, you said that. Is it a good "holy fuck" or a bad "holy fuck?"" The blond propped the raven on his knee and pressed his palms to damp cheeks.

"Holy..." The older teen had managed to open one eye.

"Stop saying that! Are you okay or not? Should I get Tsunade?"

Both eyes were closed again but the next words were stronger. "Don't you dare."

Naruto waited as Sasuke peeled his eyelids back and continued, his words slightly slurred, his voice breathless.

"Dobe, if you intend to kill me like this, I want you to promise that you'll get Kusanagi and hack up my corpse before you call anyone."

Naruto's eyebrows climbed into his hairline. "Uh, as romantic as that sounds, bastard..."

"They don't put your name on the monument for death by orgasm." He pressed a shaky finger into the tanned chest before him. "Or worse, being murdered by your own clones."

The younger teen's brows dropped. "Jerk. I still haven't figured out if you liked it or not."

"It was..." the raven"s whole body shuddered and his arm fell limply to his side. He smirked. "We should save it for special occasions."

"Like birthdays or Christmas?"

"Exactly. And Flag Day." The raven's lips twitched again. "And Election Day and Ramen Month and Chinese New Years. You understand, important occasions, like days that end in "y"."

"You know, Sasuke, you've gotten to be downright hilarious." Naruto shook his head and mused to the heavens, "Who would have guessed that would be a bad thing? Wait. Ramen Month? Wonder when that is."

Sighing he looked at his dark lover. The midnight gaze was focused on him intently. There was something new in those obsidian pools, an unfamiliar intensity that caused his heart to beat faster inside his chest.

"Sasuke?"

"You love me." It was a revelation and yet not.

A serene smile broke on the whiskered face. "Hai." Naruto whispered. "I do. I love you."

Sasuke didn't understand it even as he knew it to be true. He brought nothing to this union. Naruto had given him hope, dreams, reasons to live. The blond had shown him a strength he hadn't known was inside of him, while he was just a prickly sponge, soaking it all up until every pore of his body was saturated with it.

When did all of this happen? When did his goals regarding Itachi become more about protecting Naruto, and less about vengeance for a family he could scarcely remember? When had he begun to care about "after?" When was the notion of "after" even born? He didn't have those answers.

What he did know was that to lose this would be akin to amputating a vital organ. Life would cease to exist. Breath, blood and flesh would be irrelevant.

What he did know was that finally, after ten years, these dreams, this love was something he could live for. Wanted to live for. Needed to live for.

Suddenly he needed to give something back to his precious idiot. With a rare bit of emotional insight, he knew he had the perfect gift.

"Naruto?" He looked into the bluest eyes he'd ever seen. "Can I be your family?"

Naruto looked stunned. With a choked sob, he snatched Sasuke into his arms and buried his face in the pale neck.

It was meant to be a gift, something to give to the other half of his soul. Sasuke wondered how something that was given away could actually fill one's own chest to near bursting.

A new family. In his mind's eye, generations of Uchihas, as familiar as his own image in the mirror, lined up before him. As he allowed his imagination free reign he realized that none of the faces were scowling, judging, disapproving.

Then he felt it, the air was suddenly sweeter and there was something around him, in him, caressing his senses.

Wrapping his arms around the warm shoulders, he hugged Naruto tight and he knew. Had known it as a six-year-old sitting on his mother's lap while she bandaged a skinned knee. Hadn't thought to question it as his father spent the afternoon teaching him the secrets of the Uchihas. Had even taken it for granted as his brother left small red marks on his forehead in a show of affection that only brothers can appreciate.

This...something...he felt, it was the web of humanity shimmering around him. And by reaching out to his blond, he was now a strand in that web. It came to him from his new viewpoint from inside the web, that like his blue-eyed savior before him, like Sakura, Kakashi, his parents and even his brother, he was really just a human being after all.

And it was with soul deep relief he could acknowledge that he was no better or worse than any other human being. As he drifted off to sleep, strong arms holding him, he accepted that he didn't need to be any better or any worse. If he chose to embrace it, he had a family, indeed an entire village as a foundation, at his back, under his feet, adding to his strength and supporting him where he was weak.

And the Uchihas in his mind, stoic, proud, arrogant, but above everything else, a family, were smiling.

Uchiha Sasuke was no longer alone.


End file.
